Two powerful letters from Grandmothers

Saturday Paper 18th August

Carrying the guilt for Manus and Nauru

Thank you, Behrouz Boochani, for your crystal clear thinking, while being imprisoned in what is a living hell. This unholy hierarchy of torture, which strips people of their identity, is infecting our country as a whole, and can be seen in many institutions on the mainland. Yes, this way of taming the people has a long history. I am a Jewish child Holocaust survivor, forced to hide with a Christian family, during which time I also lost my name and my identity, separated from my family, not knowing why I was there, or even who I was. I feel guilt now, as many Germans do, even if they were not alive during World War II. Now I am the “German”, carrying the guilt of what is being done to refugees on Manus and Nauru in our name. How many Australians will say that they did not know what was going on? And will those who constructed this dreadful system ever be brought to justice? Please continue to hold this country to account.

– Marietta Elliott-Kleerkoper, Fairfield, Vic

The myth of ‘keeping us safe’

Behrouz Boochani writes, heartbreakingly, of the tyrannical regime refugees have endured on Manus Island. Using a bureaucratic labyrinth designed to frustrate and deny medical care men are condemned to suffering, and in some cases death. Every daily process and procedure is planned to humiliate and dehumanise, to reduce men to the status of animals awaiting death or refoulement to the war zones and despotisms from which they fled. Why is this done? Refugees are depicted as “the other”, lesser beings possibly dangerous and different, to be feared. Some politicians are “keeping us safe”, and using cruel and evil policies to secure their seats and their ministries. Let us stop this torture and bring asylum seekers here.

– Gael Barrett, Balwyn North, Vic